PARIS, France — North Carolina’s women’s basketball team starts its season an ocean away from Chapel Hill on Monday, taking on No. 21 Oklahoma at Adidas Arena in the 2026 Oui Play event, with tipoff set for 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
The Tar Heels come in ranked 12th by the national media panel and 11th by the coaches, marking a third consecutive preseason inside the top 15 in both rankings. Monday also brings the earliest ranked opponent in program history; before this, the soonest was a Nov. 11 meeting with No. 23 UCLA in 2013.
Openers have been kind to Carolina. The Tar Heels have won eight straight dating to 2018, are 7-0 in first games under coach Courtney Banghart and 45-7 all time. They are also unbeaten, 10-0, in games outside the United States under Banghart, with past trips to Mexico and the Bahamas. This is the first time since a 2000-01 opener at Buffalo that they begin a season outside North Carolina.
Oklahoma is no soft landing. The Sooners have reached the Sweet 16 two years running, and they averaged 85.9 points per game, third-best in Division I. Monday’s game is one of a program-record 18 national TV appearances on the Oklahoma schedule this season. Coach Jennie Baranczyk, in her sixth season, leans on Aaliyah Chavez, the reigning national freshman of the year.
Carolina brings back eight players from a 28-win team that also made the Sweet 16. Forward Ciera Toomey, back for a fourth year, tops the returners in both scoring and rebounding after putting up 8.8 points with 6.2 boards per outing, and guard Reniya Kelly, a former All-ACC second-team pick, returns from injury as a captain alongside Sydney Barker. Freshman Kate Harpring drew the most votes of any newcomer on the league’s preseason all-freshman list.
The teams have met five times before. Carolina won the last one 61-52 in Charlotte in 2023 and holds a 2-1 edge on neutral floors. After Paris, the Tar Heels head home to face South Carolina in Charlotte on Nov. 8.
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